Wildlife agents plan to use a helicopter to drive deer into nets Tuesday at a refuge along the Columbia River at Cathlamet.

They hope to capture about a dozen endangered Columbian white-tailed deer at the Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge to move them to a refuge near Ridgefield.

An effort that began in January to move about 50 deer isn't going as well as wildlife officials hoped. Agents have captured 23 deer, but one died while being transported, apparently from stress. Another was later found dead and three more were killed at Ridgefield by a coyote or other predator.

They are moving the deer because they fear a dike will break, flooding the refuge.